Automatic alarm for drip-pans of refrigerators.



. PATBNTED APR. 14, 1908.

. AVH'. LEOND'AR.. y AUTOMATIC ALARM PoR DRIP PANS 0F REPRIGERATORS.

' PPLIOATIONFILED SEPT. 18. 1.907.

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ABRAHAM H. LEONDAR, OF ROXBURY, MASSACHUSETTS.

AUTOMATIC ALARM FOR DRIP-PANS REFRIGERATORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 14, 1908.

Application led September 18, 1907. Serial No. 393,476.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ABRAHAM II. LEoNDAR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Roxbury, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Imrovement in Automatic Alarms for the rip-Pans of Refrigerators, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

My invention is an automatic alarm as an article of manufacture to be sold to householders for them to place intheir drip pans in connection with the ordinary domestic refrigerator.

To this end I have mounted on a weighted base or pedestal a float device which when the an gets nearly full of water will automatlcally set od an alarm.

The constructional details of my invention will be pointed out more at length in the following descri tion with reference to the accompanying rawings.

In the drawings, Figure 1 shows the invention in front elevation in connection with a conventionally illustrated refrigerator whose drip pan is shown in section Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the apparatus and Fig. 3 shows a modified construction.

It is the common' practice to provide a drip pan 1 beneath the usual refrigerator 2 to receive the dri pings from the drip pipe 3, and frequently t e servant forgets to empty the pan when it gets full, so that the water runs over on the iioor and not only renders foul the area where the refrigerator stands, but tends to rot out the floor. This happens so often that it is a well recognized inconvenience attending refrigerators. A variety of automatic alarm devices have been provided, most of them being expensive and more or less intricate and cumbersome. Accordingly it is the aim of my invention to provide an exceedingly simple andinexpensive alarm which does not require any special kind of drip pan or of refrigerator or any attendant mechanism but constitutes in itself an article of manufacture to be sold to the householder to be simply placed directly in whatever pan may be then in use. To this end I have provided a heavy base 4 of non-corrosive metal, or it may be of iron whose surface is rendered non-corrosive, the casting containing a central upright or pedestal 5 on which is transversely ournaled at 6 a rocker arm or lever 7 provided at one end with a depending leg 8 on which is mounted a float 9 of any suitable construction, preferably of cork and preferably secured by adjustable means 10, while at the other end the lever 7 is provided with a counterbalance weight 11 just above the push button 12 of an ordinary spring metal bell 13 such as are commonly provided on bicycles, etc., said bell being fast on the post 14 ofthe casting. This construction is not only cheap but very sensitive, and will respond with certainty the instant the water raises the float. There is nothing to get out of order and the movement is certain, as the leg 8 is rigid on' the arm 7 and hence the float cannot swing to a wrong angle as might be the case if-it was pivoted, the weight 11 and float practically counterbalancing each other and the bell is in position to be actuated upon the slightest movement of the float. The device consists practically of four pieces, the casting, the arm and leg, the float, and the bell.

The user, having purchased the device, simply sets the device into the pan, whatever shape or kind the latter may be, and the heavy base 4 keeps the apparatus in exactly correct and stable position. She then adjusts the float to correspond to the requirements of the depth of the pan. Thereafter whenever the water rises sufficiently to raise the float slightly, said raising of the float depresses the weight 11 on the push button 12 of the bell, thereby causing the latter to sound. The maid at once pulls out the pan from beneath the refrigerator, takes hold of the knob-like upper end of the pedestal 5 and lifts the apparatus from the pan, setting the apparatus on the floor side of the refrigerator and then empties the pan. Upon returning the empty pan she again sets the alarm apparatus down in the bottom of the pan and shoves the latter under the refrigerator in place to be filled again with drippings from the refrigerator.

In Fig. 3 I have shown a modification, in which instead of making the leg S depend rigidly from the arm 7 I have provided it as an arm or bracket 15 projecting rigidly from the upright 5 and have provided a fioat 16 having a stem 17 sliding in a groove or hole 18 in said leg or bracket, in position to strike the overhanging end of the lever 7.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire t0 secure by Letters l the Water rises in the pan, and an alarm bell Patent is,

As an article of manufacture, an automatie alarm for the drip pans of refrigera- 5 tors, consisting of a portable Weighted hori- Zontal base capable of maintaining the entire apparatus in stable upright position by simply resting unattached on the bottom of the pan, an upright mounted on said base, 10 an arm carried bysaid upright, a float ovarried by said arm for raising the latter when also carried by the base in position to be en-v gaged and sounded by said arm when the' float is raised.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of tWo subscribing Witnesses. ABRAHAM H. LEONDAR.

Vitnesses:

GEO. H. MAXWELL, M. J. SPALDING. 

